Goal: Share your best and/or worst lesson. This goal was inspired by Terry Freedman's Best/Worst Lessons series. In this video, Terry (@TerryFreedman) shares his inspiration behind the series and how reflecting on our best and worst lessons helps enhance our teaching. Accomplish this goal: Share your best and/or worst lesson through a blog, podcast, or vodcast. Why do you think it was your best/worst lesson? What factors led to this lesson succeeding or going awry? What did you learn from the experience?
My Worst Lesson About 7 years ago, I fooled myself into believing I was a pro with facing new learners. I was in Germany, teaching about 20 children between the ages of six- to seven-years-old who spoke and understood very little English. On the first day, I received a less than warm welcome. The children ran around the classroom flying paper airplanes. They climbed the walls, literally, because there were apparatus where the mats should be hanging, not the children. They picked on a little boy and I couldn't get them to stop. I cried that day when I went home and reflected on all my mistakes. One of the biggest was my classroom set-up and organization. In my Master's course, I was introduced to Alfie Kohn's theories on rewards and competition. I went back to my class and started setting up learning stations, created activities that inspired cooperation instead of competition, created student teams, and I got rid of my award system. My classroom transformed with these changes. The students began to get along and when they finished with their work early, they enjoyed playing educational games and reading at the learning stations. These changes took some time but they were important in transforming my classes into communities where the children learned the importance of valuing each other.
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Help us inspire teachers worldwide for 2016 by suggesting one of the 30 Goals for Cycle 7!
We have a grand mission to transform the world and that is overwhelming. We need the support of a community of compassionate and empathetic educators to help drive us. The 30 Goals Challenge began in 2010 to meet this need. We are a community of teachers across the globe accomplishing 1 to 30 goals to improve our instructional practices and keep our learners motivated. We share and reflect through blogs, Facebook, Twitter (@30GoalsEdu), and Instagram.
In January, we begin cycle 7, Make it Meaningful, and I would like to invite you to take part by either suggesting a goal or completing a goal. This year, I dare you to step out of your comfort zone and see the difference it makes with your learners! _Click here to fill out a quick Google Form to see how easy it is to suggest a goal we can accomplish in an hour to inspire us.
New to The 30 Goals Challenge? Each year, teachers worldwide aim to accomplish 1 to 30 goals that transform their teaching. Join the movement by accomplishing any goal from any of the cycles then letting us know through a blog reflection or status update on our Facebook community or on Twitter,@30GoalsEdu . At our official site, 30Goals.com, find all the goals, participant reflections, badges, and get your copy of The 30 Goals for Teachers: Small Steps to Transform Your Classroom workbook.
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